Al-Ahram (Egypt) Weekly Online, April 18-24 edition, contains a revealing article about Omar -- one of "the revered bomb-makers from the City of the Bombers." Omar chillingly described the placement of hundreds of explosives throughout the camp and the involvement of Palestinian women and children in the war effort:
"Of all the fighters in the West Bank we were the best prepared," he says. "We started working on our plan: to trap the invading soldiers and blow them up from the moment the Israeli tanks pulled out of Jenin last month."
Omar and other "engineers" made hundreds of explosive devices and carefully chose their locations.
"We had more than 50 houses booby-trapped around the camp. We chose old and empty buildings and the houses of men who were wanted by Israel because we knew the soldiers would search for them," he said. "We cut off lengths of mains water pipes and packed them with explosives and nails. Then we placed them about four meters apart throughout the houses -- in cupboards, under sinks, in sofas."
The fighters hoped to disable Israeli tanks with much more powerful bombs placed inside rubbish bins on the street. More explosives were hidden inside the cars of Jenin's most wanted men. Connected by wires, the bombs were set off remotely, triggered by the current from a car battery...
And what about the explosion and ambush last Tuesday which killed 13 soldiers? "They were lured there," he says. "We all stopped shooting and the women went out to tell the soldiers that we had run out of bullets and were leaving. The women alerted the fighters as the soldiers reached the booby-trapped area..."
Read the full Al Ahram report in English by clicking here.